Form i-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

Derivative Adjustment Applicant

With the exception of U nonimmigrants, asylees, and refugees, USCIS cannot approve your Form I-485 as a derivative 

applicant until the principal applicant has been granted lawful permanent resident status.

If you are currently the spouse or child (unmarried and under 21 years of age) of a principal applicant, you may file Form 

I-485 if an immigrant visa is immediately available to you and you meet all the filing requirements.  You may file at any of 

the following times:

1. 

At the same time the principal applicant files Form I-485;

2. 

After the principal applicant filed a Form I-485 that remains pending a final decision by USCIS;

3. 

After USCIS approves the principal applicant’s Form I-485, if the principal applicant is still a lawful permanent 

resident and if, at the time of the principal applicant’s Form I-485 approval, you were the principal applicant’s spouse 

or child; or

4. 

After the principal applicant obtained an immigrant visa and entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident 

if the principal applicant is still a lawful permanent resident and, at the time of the principal applicant’s entry, you 

were the principal applicant’s spouse or child.